Last Week’s Rides

Now that spring semester is finished and summer term has yet to begin, my riding has become much more sporadic of late. Â As I’ve said before, I am mostly a commuter cyclist, and if I can work from home during the day and avoid visiting my office on campus, I am happy to do so, even though that means fewer miles on my bike. Â But I managed to get in some good rides last week.

On Tuesday (24 May) I biked from home to Rhodes College for the meeting about bike lanes on North Parkway. Â I’ve written about this meeting before, but not about the ride itself. Â Here’s a map of my ride that day.

From home to Rhodes

And here’s a clickable link to the same map. Â For whatever reason, I always enjoy taking a different route home than I do to my initial destination. Â That day, I had the pleasure of biking home from the meeting for a time with Anthony and Matt – if you are a member of the Memphis cycling community, you know who I’m talking about – before they parted ways to have dinner. Â I continued home for an evening of Frontline and Lenny’s. Â Such is domestic bliss.

On Wednesday, I had few errands to run, plus quite a few things to get done around the house (I volunteered to make dinner that night and ended making my first frittata ever, which kicked all kinds of ass it was so good), and given the rain that came through the area that day, I decided to tackle my errands early. Â I biked from home to Schnuck’s on Union, then to the liquor store on Madison and McLean, then home. Â My timing was superb; the rain began pelting our house about five minutes after I shouldered my bike through the front door. Â Here’s a map of my adventures that day, minus the impending rain.

There and back again

And here’s another clickable link of my ride. Â I still remember the joy I felt when I discovered LeMaster Street, which runs a scant few blocks between Harbert and Union but provides a wonderful route to the back parking lot of Schnuck’s, meaning that I don’t have to deal with Union when biking to the grocery store. Â God bless you, tiny street.

Thursday found me with a few items to take care of on campus, so I hopped on my trusty two-wheeler and headed to the U of M. Â Here’s the map.

From home to work

And here’s that clickable link you all so crave. Â I have to say: I’ve really grown fond of the East Buntyn neighborhood in the past few months. Â It’s not a huge part of the U of M district, but I very much appreciate its quiet streets and trees. There’s even a few houses I have my eyes on, in case my wife and I decide to move east and buy something larger. Â This is not likely in the near future, for lots of reasons, and I would hate to leave my neighborhood, but there are definitely worse places to live in Memphis.

In the days since last Thursday’s ride, Memorial Day weekend (and the perquisite trip to visit the in-laws) has passed and summer has arrived in all its brute force. Â I’ll be teaching an undergraduate economics course at the Governor’s School for International Studies this summer, as I have for the past four years, and I am very excited for that. Â I do wish that summers in Memphis were not so viciously hot, but such is biking in Memphis.